Curious why Texas Hold Em is such a hit? Here's why

Texas hold em is a variant of poker that is played by two to nine gamers. It is the most popular poker variant. Players compete with each other to form the best 5-card hands out of their five community cards and two downcards. Every hand is formed from two blinds. Before each hand is dealt, the player positioned on the left side of the dealer places the small blind, which is an amount equivalent to 50% of the starting limit. The succeeding player on the left side places in the big blind, which is money amounting to the same as that of the starting limit. The dealer will then hand out two face-down cards to every player.

During the first round of Texas hold em, known as the preflop, the wagering is started by the player positioned on the left side of the big blind, and the cycle continues in a clockwise manner going to the big blind. Consequently, the person who placed in the big blind will be the last to act in round one. Betting for this round ends once all the wagers are called. The dealer will now deal three cards and place it on the middle of the table. This round is known as the flop. The three community cards, also named as the board, is now a part of every player's hand. The wagering is initiated by the first active gamer situated in the button's left side. As soon as the wagers have been acknowledged, the dealer will place a single card to the board. This stage is known as the turn. After the dealer is done calling all turn bets, he will put one last card to the board. This is now the river round. When the dealer is finished calling every river bets, a showdown happens when more than one hand is left. The showdown determines who has the best hand and who will take home the pot. If only one player remains and the rest have folded, that player wins. The dealer will now initiate the next deal of Texas hold em by moving the button one position in a clockwise manner.

Betting for hold em has different structures. Some are no-limit, limit and spread-limit. There are two stages for limit betting. The initial two wagering stages are clustered in one level, while the succeeding two wagering rounds are at double that level. For instance, all bets in a game of $10 to $20 continue in increments of $10 during the first two rounds. In every round, players are permitted a single bet and he can raise three times. If the fourth wager has been placed, the pot will then be capped. But for instances when there are only two players left in the pot, there will be no cap.

For spread limit, wagering is in a series. For each round, any raise or bet can be anywhere between the bottom and top of the range. The raise should be at least as big as the last raise or bet. Anything smaller will not be accepted. In this betting limit, there actually is no cap so players can bet as many as they want.

When a player's chips run out during playing, he is considered to be all in and won't be asked anymore to contribute to the pot. If you are new to the betting world, there are a lot of detailed tutorials on how to play hold em so learning the game would be easy.